Ars gear: WWDC 2012 liveblog style

See the hardware we'll be using to cover the WWDC 2012 keynote on Monday.

So you have an idea of what life is like as an Apple event liveblogger. "But what kind of gear do you use?" That's the inevitable next question Ars readers often ask me (and probably most of us who have done liveblogs). We write about techie stuff all day, but what do we actually use in real life when it's time to get the job done?

As I fly to San Francisco to cover the WWDC keynote on Monday, I thought I'd detail all the gear I'm bringing with me. Every liveblogger is different, of course—not everyone has the same gear. But as someone who does a handful of these events annually, it's safe to say most livebloggers carry some variation of the same items. Some of the gadgets are nicer, some are cheaper. Some are new and fancy, some are old-but-trusty. As long as they work, they're fair game for liveblogging.

My trusty 11-inch MacBook Air is what I bring with me to cover everything, including liveblogs. It's a 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo model with 4GB of RAM that was released in 2010. The only thing I don't like about using this machine for liveblogging is its limited battery life. An Apple keynote often lasts around two hours (sometimes a little longer). While the Air's battery can barely last that long on its own when I have a wireless card plugged in, I'm actively typing, and photos are being processed and being uploaded in the background. Luckily, Apple has begun putting power strips in some rows in the press area at its keynotes. Ending up in such a row isn't a guarantee, and at bigger keynotes (like WWDC), the best seats are the ones that are often power-strip free.

Still, my MacBook Air performs well during these things, and for some reason, I type the fastest when using the Air's flat chicklet keyboard.

The camera I'm using this time around is a new one for me: the Canon EOS 7D. (In the past, I have used an old, beaten-up Canon Digital Rebel XT.) The 7D is an 18 megapixel digital SLR, but more importantly, its sensor is so much better than what I'm used to with the Digital Rebel. I can't wait to put this one to use in the liveblog on Monday.

The lens I'll be using is a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM telephoto lens. It's not my usual lens when I do a liveblog with photography, but we have used this occasionally for liveblogs at Ars in the past. This thing is a monster with the weight to prove it (ow, my shoulder), but it definitely gets the job done when you want to really get a good angle on Scott Forestall's signature look of "excitement."

The handful of accessories that are coming with me include a Belkin mini surge protector/USB charger, a Mophie "Juice Pack" Powerstation, a Sprint Overdrive, and a generic USB wireless dongle running on Millenicom. The Belkin surge protector is priceless—I highly recommend carrying one with you on trips, as it has been infinitely useful to me in airports, hotels, conference centers, and more. The Mophie Powerstation can provide backup battery juice for my iPhone (I plan to write a review of this soon!). The USB dongle is usually my main wireless connection when I cover liveblogs, and the Overdrive comes along for the ride as backup. Not pictured: the millions of cables required for everything in this post to work together, which are in the process of wadding themselves into a giant cable octopus in my carry-on bag as we speak.

Yes, I bring with me an iPad and an iPhone. The iPhone is my main phone, so I need it on me in order to communicate with the Ars team back home in the event of a wireless meltdown in the keynote area (or any other less-frightening emergencies). The iPad tags along to serve as an emergency "everything else blew up" backup LTE hotspot, an item to compare potential new products against in the post-keynote briefing room, and as a testing platform later in the event of a new iOS release. For those curious, those are some Skullcandy 50/50 Earphones that have practically fallen apart in every way since I bought them last August (less than a year ago!).

Last but not least is my trusty messenger bag from Rickshaw Bagworks in San Francisco. I used to bring smaller bags with me to cover liveblogs, but I'm never satisfied with their capacity when I'm on the road. This one is huge—it's the large size messenger bag made for people hauling a herd of livestock on their backs... or in my case, a laptop, an iPad, an iPhone, a DSLR, a zoom lens, a handful of accessories, various personal items, and a cable octopus. (Don't do this at home, kids. Save your backs!) It also has a waterproof liner in the event I get caught out in the rain with all these electronics—don't laugh, it has happened—and as many pockets as I could possibly add. Inside, I'm also using a laptop sleeve from Waterfield Designs for both my MacBook Air and the iPad.

Now that you've seen what I'm using, what hardware do you like to bring with you when you travel? Whether for work or pleasure, we're sure you have plenty of recommendations for items to make your tech life easier when on the road.

I could have sworn there was one or more companies showing external lithium batteries that could power a macbook. They got around the magsafe issue by providing a socket compatible with the airline adapter.

Seems to be common with Skullcandy, back a few years ago when I was dumb enough to get those they came apart at the connection, second pair did the same, and each time the replacement I was supposed to get under warranty never came.

Since you ask: I like to bring my iPad to conferences (light, and ideal for doing email during boring talks or looking up papers cited in presentations), but I also bring my Macbook Pro for the more serious work. If the conference is in a nice place I may also bring my old Nikon D50, although lately I tend to stick with the camera of my iPhone 4 for convenience.

You may find an eyefi card helpful in some of these liveblogging situations. The only downside is that you need a camera with an SD card slot. Thankfully Canon has been adding a secondary slot to its SLRs. I put them to good use on a 5d3 when I photographed the Facebook IPO. I set it up to send lower res JPEGs to a dropbox folder for quick posting.

You may find an eyefi card helpful in some of these liveblogging situations. The only downside is that you need a camera with an SD card slot. Thankfully Canon has been adding a secondary slot to its SLRs. I put them to good use on a 5d3 when I photographed the Facebook IPO. I set it up to send lower res JPEGs to a dropbox folder for quick posting.

You may find an eyefi card helpful in some of these liveblogging situations. The only downside is that you need a camera with an SD card slot. Thankfully Canon has been adding a secondary slot to its SLRs. I put them to good use on a 5d3 when I photographed the Facebook IPO. I set it up to send lower res JPEGs to a dropbox folder for quick posting.

There's so much WiFi pollution from tons of hotspots and devices at any major tech keynote event that I wouldn't rely on that.

You may find an eyefi card helpful in some of these liveblogging situations. The only downside is that you need a camera with an SD card slot. Thankfully Canon has been adding a secondary slot to its SLRs. I put them to good use on a 5d3 when I photographed the Facebook IPO. I set it up to send lower res JPEGs to a dropbox folder for quick posting.

There's so much WiFi pollution from tons of hotspots and devices at any major tech keynote event that I wouldn't rely on that.

heh, now i find myself reminded of the contrast between Apple and Google presentations. Apple tells people to shut down devices, and appears to have a very negative attitude towards any attempt at broadcasting it. Google not only webcast the show themselves, but also tells people that they can leave devices on.

There's so much WiFi pollution from tons of hotspots and devices at any major tech keynote event that I wouldn't rely on that.

They functioned well at the IPO event. I've used the canon wifi transmitter in times square with success. One should always be prepared to go wired if necessary, but when you're running around shooting, wireless tech presents opportunities/timeframes that would otherwise not be feasible to take advantage of.

What are you using to protect your lenses and DSLR in the bag? I've been thinking of ditching my clunky camera bag for something a little more useful day to day but I'm still looking to protect my DSLR.

Man how I envy the fact you are headed over there right now to see all the goodies they will unveil. I have a Tech Blog myself and would love such an opportunity. Love the new ARS layout good stuff guys

Including the two phones and an iPad with tethering (complete overkill) I have a total of four mobile connectivity options from three different operators with me at all times. Redundancy is great, especially when you're out on the road somewhere where 3G coverage is spotty or where mobile networks might frequently become congested which happens to me all the time. A prepaid mobile data plan costs nothing until you actually need to use it and is a great alternative if you're in a pinch, your main connection option fails and you absolutely need to be connected.

The two probably most crucial items are at the bottom of the list: I make sure to never forget food + water.

I haven't got the faintest how it all fits in my bag... (Currently on the lookout for something that is slightly roomier, water resistant, discrete and won't cost me an arm and a leg. Recommendations?)

Packed inside my trusty and extremely durable Crumpler bag (17-inch MacBook Pro model) is rarely my MBP anymore, since I use my smartphone for nearly just about everything digital these days (including writing and posting articles, and recording and editing audio), but an extra cable for my iPhone, an extra set of headphones, a zoom lens and tripod for pretending that my phone is a real camera, and an iRig interface, should I find myself with the urge to jam without an amp, but with a guitar and cable nearby.

I'm also attending WWDC this year (one of the perks of being a morning person -- I was up early enough to get a ticket!). Not liveblogging, but here's what I've got with me on this trip:

13" Macbook Air (C2D 2010 model) -- I'm really glad I made this choice -- the battery life really makes a huge difference! iPhone (4S with Mophie Juicepack -- the juicepack is a godsend when traveling); iPad 3 LTE (it comes in handy sometimes, but mostly it's for watching movies on planes and in hotel rooms, and of course for testing iOS 6 tomorrow!); Canon S100 (I love the size/quality tradeoff and I don't need a big lens for my work -- and the name reminds me of my old ALTAIR [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-100_bus]!); and a hefty bag of chargers and cables.

I too have a Rickshaw bag, but I'm not fond of it. It's unbalanced when I carry it by the handle, and it doesn't have backpack straps. So I'm carrying all this crap in a Swiss Gear nylon backpack.

My only problem with that gorgeous lens at tech events (and the equivalent Nikon 70-200 is exactly the same) is that the minimum focus distance is something like 4-5 feet!

This always means you need to pack a second lens for taking the "equipment" shots -- super annoying.

I've been debating with myself whether to go to something like the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM (in my case probably the AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED) and simply crop for shots of the action on stage.

Typically, I'll be wearing a body with a 70-200 and a body with a 24-70 during a conference (assuming I have some flexibility to move front to back and/or side to side). Depending on the situation, I may also have a wide lens in a holder attached to my belt. The 24-70 + 70-200 combo should serve your event focal length needs over 90% of the time.

If you traveling internationally, beware of using power strips with USB ports such as the Belkin. Most North American power strips, even though they aren't rated for European voltages usually perform fine; so all you need is an appropriate plug adapter and then you can plug your universal voltage chargers directly into the power strip. However, a power strip with a USB port built-in obviously does more than just pass power; it also contains a transformer for the USB ports. Unfortunately, most of them are only rated for the lower North American voltages (<130 volts) rather than the 220-240 voltage range found in Europe and other places.

I found this out the hard way when I plugged my Belkin into a plug adapter plugged into the wall in my Paris hotel room, and spent the rest of the night in darkness as it blew the circuit breaker for the room (and the desk clerk did not have access to the electrical closet). The next day, I checked the engraved information on the plug and sure enough--not dual voltage. That afternoon, picked up some extra adapters and a European power strip so that I could use the standard chargers which, fortunately, I had packed.

Unfortunately, the necessary information is usually only in the hard-to-read engraving on the adapter and not on the packaging.

I own both and love them dearly as well. Depending on what an arm and a leg is by your prospective.

My thoughts?

Including the two phones and an iPad with tethering (complete overkill) I have a total of four mobile connectivity options from three different operators with me at all times. Redundancy is great, especially when you're out on the road somewhere where 3G coverage is spotty or where mobile networks might frequently become congested which happens to me all the time. A prepaid mobile data plan costs nothing until you actually need to use it and is a great alternative if you're in a pinch, your main connection option fails and you absolutely need to be connected.

The two probably most crucial items are at the bottom of the list: I make sure to never forget food + water.

I haven't got the faintest how it all fits in my bag... (Currently on the lookout for something that is slightly roomier, water resistant, discrete and won't cost me an arm and a leg. Recommendations?)

I found this out the hard way when I plugged my Belkin into a plug adapter plugged into the wall in my Paris hotel room, and spent the rest of the night in darkness as it blew the circuit breaker for the room (and the desk clerk did not have access to the electrical closet).

You must have gotten a $2.36 bootleg of a power adapter. Any proper UL cert device would either deal with it, or blow a tiny fuse on board and go silent forever. Here is a pair of articles tearing down a real iPhone charger and a phake. It's pretty interesting how far off designs can end up on the "don't care if some westerner dies in a fire" scale.

I was about to ask why Jacqui doesn't just type up on the iPad, with the huge diff in battery life. Then I remembered that WWDC's radio environment is basically the 6th circle of Robot Hell, so Bluetooth wouldn't really work out there.

Here's hoping that the Moonsharks are just fleeting reminders of Ars' popularity, and most F5's go answered.

Just wondering, does anyone bring a non-Apple device (laptop or tablet) to these things? (Or Apple products to an equivelent Microsoft event)

I assume most people attending are firmly supporters of the particular brand, but the question just randomly popped into my head.

I think it's a journalism thing. From a straw poll of my friends (mostly CS students, but also other subjects), around 5-7% have Macs. Among tech journalists (Ars, Anand and Verge), it seems closer to 99% :S

My only problem with that gorgeous lens at tech events (and the equivalent Nikon 70-200 is exactly the same) is that the minimum focus distance is something like 4-5 feet!

This always means you need to pack a second lens for taking the "equipment" shots -- super annoying.

I've been debating with myself whether to go to something like the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM (in my case probably the AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED) and simply crop for shots of the action on stage.

Typically, I'll be wearing a body with a 70-200 and a body with a 24-70 during a conference (assuming I have some flexibility to move front to back and/or side to side). Depending on the situation, I may also have a wide lens in a holder attached to my belt. The 24-70 + 70-200 combo should serve your event focal length needs over 90% of the time.

Just wondering, does anyone bring a non-Apple device (laptop or tablet) to these things? (Or Apple products to an equivelent Microsoft event)

I assume most people attending are firmly supporters of the particular brand, but the question just randomly popped into my head.

I think it's a journalism thing. From a straw poll of my friends (mostly CS students, but also other subjects), around 5-7% have Macs. Among tech journalists (Ars, Anand and Verge), it seems closer to 99% :S

Macs seem to be picking up around my University, particularly with lecturers. I think the discount for educational institutes, the easy to understand product range, the build quality and reliability and, of course, the coolness factor are all adding to this along with Apples over products doing well.

In my field our instrument vendors tie us to windows unfortunately, as I'd much prefer to move to linux full-time.

What I find strange is Jacqui acknowledges the 11" MBA is inappropriate for what she is doing yet she is still taking it. This seems odd. I understand that equipment is expensive, my laptop is falling apart and I still haven't upgraded it, but as a tech journalist I would have thought she'd be using something up to spec.

Just wondering, does anyone bring a non-Apple device (laptop or tablet) to these things? (Or Apple products to an equivelent Microsoft event)

I assume most people attending are firmly supporters of the particular brand, but the question just randomly popped into my head.

I think it's a journalism thing. From a straw poll of my friends (mostly CS students, but also other subjects), around 5-7% have Macs. Among tech journalists (Ars, Anand and Verge), it seems closer to 99% :S

Physics in general and particle physics in particular -- now around 80%, observed. Very rapid change in the last five to seven years.

heh, now i find myself reminded of the contrast between Apple and Google presentations. Apple tells people to shut down devices, and appears to have a very negative attitude towards any attempt at broadcasting it. Google not only webcast the show themselves, but also tells people that they can leave devices on.

Right, it's about Apple / media hostility and has nothing to do with the fact that they can't demo product features requiring Wi-fi because of all the interference generated by those devices.